In this webinar, researchers
from the University of Idaho present approaches and initial findings from three
sets of environmental impact measurements: nutrient leaching, greenhouse gas
fluxes, and soil biology.

Impacts of growing poplar as a
short-rotation bioenergy crop are measured in comparison to adjacent fields
growing food or forage crops in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon. Initial results indicate that environmental
impacts of poplar coppice culture are minimal.
However, monitoring of shifts in organic matter and changes in
physiochemical responses over the next three years will provide a more complete
assessment including critical evaluation of inter-annual variation.

What’s covered?

Impacts of converting agricultural fields
to poplar biomass for biofuels on off-site leaching of ammonium, nitrate,
and orthophosphate and the potential for degraded water quality.

How greenhouse gas fluxes (CH4
and N2O) change when fields are converted to bioenergy crops as
compared to nearby agricultural fields representing previous land use.

Changes in soil respiration, composition
of microbial guilds, and activity of extra-cellular enzymes produced by
soil microbes in response to poplar bioenergy crops.

Presenters: Mark Coleman,
Bhanu Bhattarai, and Brian Bell from the University of Idaho

Sponsored by: Washington State University with funding
from Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Competitive Grant no.
2011-68005-30407 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA).